Mama
by ShaniRona
Summary: Pure Pepperony fluff. Morgan Stark. No real time period, but I guess after A4 if everyone's fine and well and alive? One shot.


It definitely wasn't what she was expecting.

She had found out two weeks ago. Two very stressed weeks ago, after about a month of sickness and nonstop eleven hour days in the office. Sure, she and Tony had finally tied the knot. She had finally gotten him to retire most of the suits, settle down...at least a little bit. He had come to help her part time at Stark Industries, coming back to what he was familiar with so he didn't get bored while he wasn't busy being Iron Man anymore.

Tony, though, had insisted on working from home so he could still tinker in his lab with Bruce when he had time. The rest of his day, he was reading concepts from college kids who sent in applications, seeing what new tech and ideology he could bring to the clean energy business Stark now represented.

And that was exactly what he was doing when she found him in the lab one day, sitting at one of the desks with a hand to his forehead as he slumped over the table top. It just wasn't the same, and she knew he longed to bring Iron Man back, but things...things had to change. And now he'd understand why.

"Hey..." she managed as the automatic doors let her in, hands together awkwardly at her front. "Can we, um...I need a second, do you have a second?"

"Uhh," he mumbled, scooting back in his chair to stop slouching.

Tony furrowed his brow at the papers in hand, then shuffled through them as though he was looking for something. He had assumed she was at the office, so this was a surprise.

"Yeah" he decided finally. "Yeah, can I finish these few pages first?"

"It'll just take a second," she promised, her heart beating out of control. "I just need to tell you something, and I was just napping and woke up from this bad dream, and-"

"Okay..." he answered slowly, finally looking at me with confusion as he lowered the papers into one neat pile.

Pepper rarely had nightmares. They were usually saved for him, on those rare occasions he still remembered one of his many, many battles that almost ended in him losing his life. But Pepper...she was always his comfort, never the weak one, and that startled him.

"So, here's the thing," she began, voice soft and tranquil as she tried to stay calm and steady. "I don't know how to tell you this. I've been trying to figure out what to say in my head for like two weeks because I've known that long, but I'm so nervous, and I know this isn't exactly what you had planned, so..."

Then she took a deep breath, glancing at her hands and then back to his warm chocolate eyes. His eyebrow was lifted and he was waiting patiently, so she bit her lip and decided just to go for it.

"I'm pregnant, Tony..."

He blinked, waiting for a moment to see if she was joking, but her lips only twitched as she waited for his response.

"What?" he eventually asked, dumbly, but his voice was light.

"You're...gonna be a dad..." she whispered to follow up.

He didn't respond at first, only watched her steadily, and that made her feel panicked. But then he slowly stood up, gently pushing himself out of the chair to move around the desk, coming into her personal space. She couldn't read him and it freaked her out.

But next thing she knew, his arms pulled her into a tight hug and he kissed the side of her head, lips to hair.

"Are you serious?!" he asked, lingering there, and she nodded against him, heart still thumping.

"I, uh...there's a positive test upstairs, in the toilet paper cabinet..." she admitted. "I held onto it for when I told you..."

It was definitely not what she had expected for Tony. She knew he had asked to have a baby, but he was getting older, and since things settled, he hadn't asked again. To find him happy about the pregnancy...it was beyond her.

But with all of that well in the past, it wasn't the only thing she wasn't expecting.

Once the baby was born, she decided to switch it up, working from home while _Tony_ went to the office, instead, rightfully taking the duty of co-CEO to balance things better while she was still recovering from becoming a new mom.

Even though they had hired a nanny, Pepper stayed with the baby most of the day. She didn't think she'd be one to be a stay at home mom, but with _their_ baby, things were different. Morgan was part her, and part Tony, and everything that she needed in her life. And Tony as a dad...Tony was sexy as ever, if that made any sense to anyone but her.

The best part, though? He was around. He was around when she was born, he was around when she learned to walk. He was around when she learned her first words...no, and then dada, respectively. He wasn't away somewhere on the other side of the globe or lost in space. He was home in New York, with his family, safe and sound.

The only downside of this new version of Tony, though, was that he was back and forth between the office and home, so he only really saw Morgan at night and on the weekends. Odd, right? Tony Stark, having a normal, 9-5, five day a week work week? They were both still adjusting to it.

And Tony...Tony was still adjusting to the idea of a nanny, but he liked the woman they hired, regardless. He was protective of Morgan, that was for sure, but it made sense after all that he had gone through. He was terrified when she called him dada for the first time, but quickly warmed up to it.

But when Morgan said mama for the first time...that was a different story.

Because it wasn't to Pepper, it was to the nanny, to the woman who was standing right next to Pepper as she watched Tony feed their daughter with a small spoonful of baby food. It was mumbled at first, but then she repeated it, and her eyes were locked on the nanny in the fridge.

"Oh," was all Pepper could muster, blinking and avoiding Tony's gaze once it whipped to her.

"It...I mean, that's still a good thing, isn't it?" he suggested, one hand out in gesture to his wife. "She knows her third word."

Narrowing her eyes, Pepper lowered her head and retreated to their bedroom, up a floor, despite Tony calling after her.

"Pep!" he begged once she left the room.

She knew he'd be shifting to take the baby from the high chair, but she didn't want to cry in front of any of them. That's what she felt like doing, though, and the bedroom was the safest place...their safe haven.

She only had a few moments of silence before her husband and their daughter came following her into the open concept room, though. Tony was hot on her heels, knowing she would take offense to Morgan's eccentric announcement.

"Pep," he tried, closing the door gently behind him.

She was pacing, hand on her forehead, trying to cool off. And it worked, a little, when she saw how soft Tony looked balancing the baby on his hip. But she was still let down, and upset, if that was allowed.

"She doesn't know, she's a baby," he sighed, shifting Morgan in his arms.

"She knows you!" she snapped, coming to a stop. "She knows you and you aren't even here."

"She knows the word for dad, that's it," he protested, then rolled her eyes.

"She associates dada with you. With your picture. No one else. And I'm here every day I can be, I quit my job to be with her...and she calls _her _mama? The first time she says it and she said it to _he_r."

"Honey, calm down."

"I conceived her, I carried her, I delivered her. I care for her every day and she thinks she's her mom!" she complained in a hurt whisper.

He lifted an eyebrow, but didn't budge. "_We _conceived her. She's half you, half me."

"I just...Tony, I told you she doesn't like me."

"You're being dramatic," he sang lightly, trying to not sound angry with the baby.

"I'm not..." she grumbled instead. "I just want her to know her mom."

"It was just a mistake!" he tried to promise, his eyes flickering back to Morgan, who then started to cry, her face scrunched up and fussy. "All right, all right, come on, mini Stark..."

But Morgan reached out with both arms, unlocking herself from Tony's shoulder, and Pepper's heart stopped as she watched her burst into tears. She was reaching for _her._

"See," Tony whispered softly, passing her to Pepper. "She wants her mommy."

"No, she just wants this woman she barely knows to rock her to sleep," she muttered, but settled her in her arms and stroked her head as she buried her face in Pepper's neck and cried. "Hush, baby..."

Her little hands found her hair and she tugged on it, pulling a little too hard, but she didn't say anything. Tony, on the other hand, crossed his arm over his chest as she bounced the baby in her arms and paced.

"You're her comfort, Pep," he told her softly, watching. "And that hair thing...she does that to me, too. And guess what...she gets that from you. From her _mom_."

"It's coincidence," she argued.

"No, it's a Potts thing," he laughed. "I've got two Potts's pulling my hair out...it's a wonder I'm not going bald yet."

"I don't pull it out..." she mumbled as Morgan started to settle down. "It's just soft... And besides, she's a Stark. One hundred percent Stark with the amount of anxiety she gives me..."

"I do not give you anxiety!" he gasped dramatically.

Pepper only smirked, shooting him a look. "Your daughter is a carbon copy of you, and that terrifies me."

"If that's true, then his mother is the most important person to him in this world and he loves her more than anything," he tossed back, watching as she blinked a fake glare up at him. "Ah, don't give me that look. You know I'm right."

She sighed, suddenly emotional as she rested her cheek lightly on the top of Morgan's head.

"I love this kid so much it hurts," she whispered. "I would do literally anything to make her happy. And I just want her to know that. I want her to know who her family is...who she can rely on, who's gonna protect her."

"Iron Man will protect her!" Tony stated proudly, receiving a second glare.

"No!"

"But-"

"She's gonna have such a complicated life, Tony, and she's gonna need her parents..."

"And she has them, babe," Tony promised, finally letting his arms loose to rest a hand on her open shoulder. "She knows you're upset, and she wanted you. She's protecting _you_, it's the other way around."

"She's not you, Stark," she protested. "And even if she was...how's she know to do that, huh?"

"But you expect her to know to only say mama to you?"

"I'm the only person who's been here every day of her life!" she snapped, but immediately regretted that. "That's not...I..."

Tony inhaled, thinking, but before he could speak, Morgan wound up nuzzling her face into Pepper's neck, yawning before uttering another word and drifting off into sleep.

It was the only word she wanted to hear. The only word she needed to put the smile back on her face and remind her everything they were doing, everything they had done to get here, was worth it.

"Mama..."


End file.
